The present invention relates generally to power and energy related control and monitoring functions and, more particularly, to systems and methods for building a multifunctional power and energy control and management system by integrating multiple backplane based modules through module descriptions.
Often, for power and energy related control and monitoring applications, there are a variety of application specific requirements that add complexity and cost to the application specific systems, typically based on the types and amounts of data gathered. Examples of power and energy related control and monitoring applications include power monitoring, HVAC, line synchronization, motor protectors, transformer protectors, and application specific devices. Using power monitoring as an example, unfavorable events, such as voltage sags, swells, or transient events can occur randomly any location within a facility's distribution system. These events can damage or reduce the life of equipment connected to the distribution system, they can cause connected equipment to malfunction, or even worse, cause harm to personnel. A power monitoring system is used to detect and capture typically large amounts of data related to these events when they occur. The captured data can then be examined and analyzed in an effort to understand the event and determine the cause of the event. Potential corrective actions can be identified and implemented to reduce or eliminate a reoccurrence of the event.
Prior known systems for power and energy related control and monitoring applications have several drawbacks. For example, when these prior known systems are configured for first time use, or when additional modules are added to the system, these systems are not able to “self organize,” meaning they need user intervention prior to and during initialization and revisions in order to properly configure the system to function according to the desired application. In addition, prior known systems have not adequately addressed the need for greater data storage while combining greater data storage with improved data access speeds.
In order to configure these known systems prior to use, the end user must use configuration software. Some of these prior known systems include multiple modules assembled together, requiring the user to manipulate the configuration software to indicate what modules are part of the system, and then the configuration software, based upon the user input, configures the system as input to the configuration software by the user. If an error in the configuration of the system is made by the user, the system may not recognize the error because the system would be configured based upon the user input.
Additionally, these systems typically access and store large amounts of power and energy related data for later review and analysis. These prior types of systems frequently incorporate a commercial or free embedded database to perform data access, storage, and updates. Because these databases are general purpose, they are rarely if ever suitable for the ever increasing large amounts of power and energy related data that is accessed, stored, and frequently updated.
It would, therefore, be desirable to have systems and methods that self-organize a multifunctional power and energy control and management system by integrating multiple backplane based modules through module descriptions. A dynamic data structure configured with module description information improves data access, storage, and updating.